Puzzle and playing method using puzzle

ABSTRACT

A puzzle includes a plurality of pieces having the same outer shape, the plurality of pieces are divisionally arranged in a plurality of layers, and the pieces assigned to each of the plurality of layers are selectively arranged at locations on a plane of the layer. Each of the plurality of pieces includes an opaque part, and at least one of the plurality of pieces further includes a transparent part. The opaque parts of pieces assigned to a given layer are formed to cover, of true patterns and dummy patterns on a lower side of the layer, the dummy patterns, and the true patterns seen through the transparent parts of the pieces are combined to form one pattern.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a puzzle which completes one pattern by arranging a plurality of pieces with partial patterns at predetermined positions, and a playing method using the same.

Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2537311 discloses a conventional puzzle. This puzzle includes a label attached in the frame of a casing, and eight pieces movably arranged on the label. Eight reference patterns are drawn on the label. The partial patterns are drawn on the eight pieces, respectively. The eight pieces on the label are moved within the frame using a free space corresponding to one piece to make the reference patterns and partial patterns match each other, thereby completing one pattern using the eight pieces.

In the conventional puzzle, the positions of the eight reference patterns are determined in advance and need not be selected. To complete the pattern, only the eight pieces are moved to select positions. However, this lowers the difficulty level of the game.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problem, and has as its object to provide a puzzle with high difficulty level of the game, and a playing method using the same.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a puzzle including a plurality of pieces having the same outer shape, wherein the plurality of pieces are divisionally arranged in a plurality of layers, and the pieces assigned to each of the plurality of layers are selectively arranged at locations on a plane of the layer, each of the plurality of pieces includes an opaque part, and at least one of the plurality of pieces further includes a transparent part, and the opaque parts of pieces assigned to a given layer are formed to cover, of true patterns and dummy patterns on a lower side of the layer, the dummy patterns, and the true patterns seen through the transparent parts of the pieces are combined to form one pattern.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall outer appearance of a puzzle in a vertically exploded state according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view for explaining a method of completing one pattern according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing several extracted parts so as to explain the principle of completing a pattern according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which a lid is detached from a storage box according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a state before the start of game, in which all pieces are removed from the storage box according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which selected lower pieces are placed at predetermined locations according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which all lower pieces are stored in the storage box according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state in which selected upper pieces are placed on predetermined lower pieces according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a state in which all upper pieces are placed on the lower pieces to complete one pattern according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view for explaining a method of completing one pattern in a puzzle according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11A is a schematic view showing several extracted parts so as to explain the principle of completing a pattern according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11B is a schematic view for explaining the opaque parts of a piece of a lower piece group according to the second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a plan view for explaining a puzzle playing method according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9.

First Embodiment

A puzzle 1 whose overall arrangement is shown in FIG. 1 includes a storage box 2, 18 pieces 41 to 49 and 51 to 59, and a lid 6. The storage box 2 is formed into a shallow square box shape, and has an opening 2 a on the upper side. The storage box 2 also functions as a base member. Out of the 18 pieces, the nine pieces 41 to 49 construct a lower piece group 4 which is inserted from the opening 2 a of the storage box 2 and overlaid on a bottom portion 2 b. The remaining nine pieces 51 to 59 construct an upper piece group 5 which is overlaid on the lower piece group 4. The lid 6 covers the opening 2 a of the storage box 2.

The puzzle 1 is a game that is designed to form nine partial patterns 21 a to 29 a by overlaying the nine lower pieces 41 to 49 at predetermined positions on the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 and further overlaying the nine predetermined upper pieces 51 to 59 on the pieces 41 to 49, and then complete an animal pattern 7 (in this embodiment, an illustration of a panda's face) by combining the nine partial patterns 21 a to 29 a, as shown in FIG. 2.

The entire surface of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 is colored in black that is the base of the pattern to be described later. The surface of the bottom portion 2 b is divided into nine areas 21 to 29 in which the nine pieces 41 to 49 of the lower piece group 4 are selectively overlaid at predetermined positions, as shown in FIG. 1.

The nine pieces 41 to 49 of the lower piece group 4 are made of a transparent material, and have the same square outer shape. The pieces 41 to 49 include first opaque parts 41 a to 49 a illustrated as hatched portions in FIG. 2 and transparent parts 41 b to 49 b as non-hatched portions, respectively. The first opaque parts 41 a to 49 a are colored in white. The transparent parts 41 b to 49 b are designed to visualize, out of the base of the bottom portion 2 b, the partial patterns 21 a to 29 a that are true patterns and dummy patterns 21 b to 29 b (the dummy patterns 22 b to 29 b are not illustrated), as shown in FIG. 3, when the pieces 41 to 49 are overlaid on the predetermined nine areas 21 to 29 of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2. Hence, the first opaque parts 41 a to 49 a cover, out of the base of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2, portions other than the partial patterns 21 a to 29 a and the dummy patterns 21 b to 29 b.

The nine pieces 51 to 59 of the upper piece group 5 are made of a transparent material, and have the same square outer shape as that of the above-described lower pieces 41 to 49. The pieces 51 to 59 include second opaque parts 51 a to 59 a illustrated as hatched portions in FIG. 2 and transparent parts 51 b to 59 b as non-hatched portions, respectively. The second opaque parts 51 a to 59 a are colored in white. When the pieces 51 to 59 are overlaid on the predetermined lower pieces 41 to 49, the second opaque parts 51 a to 59 a cover at least dummy patterns 21 b to 29 b to form the partial patterns 21 a to 29 a. That is, the first opaque parts 41 a to 49 a and the second opaque parts 51 a to 59 a cooperate to express and complete one pattern 7 out of the base of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2.

The illustration of an animal completed as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on a surface 6 a of the lid 6 as one pattern 7.

A method of completing the puzzle will be described next mainly with reference to FIGS. 4 to 9. First, the lid 6 is detached from the storage box 2 to open the opening 2 a of the storage box 2, as shown in FIG. 4. Then, the nine lower pieces 41 to 49 and the nine upper pieces 51 to 59 are removed from the storage box 2 and spread on a table 8 at random, as shown in FIG. 5.

From this state, the lower pieces 41 to 49 are selected from the pieces 41 to 49 and 51 to 59 and overlaid on the nine predetermined areas 21 to 29 of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2, as shown in FIG. 6, using the pattern 7 displayed on the lid 6 as a clue. In this case, the lower pieces 41 to 49 are overlaid on the predetermined areas 21 to 29 after selecting their vertical and horizontal directions.

After all the lower pieces 41 to 49 are overlaid on the predetermined areas 21 to 29, as shown in FIG. 7, the upper pieces 51 to 59 are overlaid on the predetermined lower pieces 41 to 49, respectively, to form the predetermined partial patterns 21 a to 29 a, as shown in FIG. 8. In this case, the upper pieces 51 to 59 are overlaid on the predetermined lower pieces 41 to 49 after selecting their vertical and horizontal directions, like the lower pieces 41 to 49.

When all the upper pieces 51 to 59 are overlaid on the predetermined lower pieces 41 to 49, the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2, the lower piece group 4, and the upper piece group 5, which are overlaid, form the partial patterns 21 a to 29 a, as shown in FIG. 9. The partial patterns 21 a to 29 a express and complete one animal pattern 7.

That is, to complete one pattern 7, it is necessary to select the lower pieces 41 to 49 from the 18 pieces 41 to 49 and 51 to 59, and select a position where each of the lower pieces 41 to 49 should be overlaid from the nine areas 21 to 29 of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 using the pattern 7 displayed on the lid 6 as a clue. Since the vertical and horizontal directions of the pieces 41 to 49 need to be selected, the difficulty level of the game is high.

Similarly, it is necessary to selectively overlay the upper pieces 51 to 59 on the lower pieces 41 to 49. In this case as well, the vertical and horizontal directions of the pieces 51 to 59 need to be selected. This further raises the difficulty level of the game.

Note that in the first embodiment, the upper piece group 5 may be the lower piece group, and the lower piece group 4 may be the upper piece group. As for the base member, the surface of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 is colored in black so that the storage box 2 functions as the base member. Instead, a background panel whose entire surface is colored in black may be placed on the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 so that the background panel functions as the base member. In this case, the surface of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 need not be colored in black. The surface of the bottom portion 2 b is colored in black. However, various colors such as white and red are also selectable. In this case, the first opaque parts 41 a to 49 a of the lower piece group 4 and the second opaque parts 51 a to 59 a of the upper piece group 5 are colored not in white but in a color different from the color of the surface of the bottom portion 2 b.

Second Embodiment

The second embodiment of the present invention will be described next with reference to FIGS. 10, 11A, and 11B. A puzzle 101 according to the second embodiment includes a lower piece group 104 and an upper piece group 105 overlaid on the lower piece group 104, as shown in FIG. 10. The puzzle 101 also includes a storage box 2 to store the lower piece group 104 and the upper piece group 105, and a lid 6 described in the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, however, the entire surface of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 is colored in white serving as the background of the pattern to be described later.

Nine pieces 141 to 149 of the lower piece group 104 are made of a transparent material, and have the same square outer shape as that of the lower pieces 41 to 49 of the above-described first embodiment. The pieces 141 to 149 include opaque parts 141 b to 149 b colored in black that is the base of the pattern, and transparent parts 141 a to 149 a other than the opaque parts. The opaque parts 141 b to 149 b are formed from partial patterns 141 c to 149 c (the partial patterns 142 c to 149 c are not illustrated) that are true patterns and dummy patterns 141 d to 149 d (the dummy patterns 142 b to 149 b are not illustrated), as shown in FIG. 11B.

Nine pieces 151 to 159 of the upper piece group 105 are made of a transparent material, and have the same square outer shape as that of the above-described lower pieces 141 to 149. The pieces 151 to 159 include transparent parts 151 a to 159 a illustrated as non-hatched portions in FIG. 11A and opaque parts 151 b to 159 b colored in white and illustrated as hatched portions. When the pieces 151 to 159 are overlaid on the predetermined lower pieces 141 to 149, the opaque parts 151 b to 159 b cover at least the dummy patterns 141 d to 149 d (the dummy patterns 142 d to 149 d are not illustrated) to form the partial patterns 141 c to 149 c.

In this arrangement, to complete the puzzle, the lower pieces 141 to 149 are overlaid at predetermined positions on a bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 using a pattern 7 displayed on the lid 6 as a clue, as shown in FIG. 10.

Next, the upper pieces 151 to 159 are overlaid on the predetermined lower pieces 141 to 149, respectively, to form the predetermined partial patterns 141 c to 149 c. The partial patterns 141 c to 149 c are combined to express and complete one animal pattern 107.

In the second embodiment, since the lower piece group 104 can be discriminated from the upper piece group 105, the difficulty level lowers accordingly, as compared to the above-described first embodiment. However, the difficulty level in locating the lower pieces 141 to 149 at predetermined positions of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 and the difficulty level in overlaying the upper pieces 151 to 159 on the predetermined lower pieces 141 to 149 are almost the same as in the above-described first embodiment. Hence, the difficulty level of the game is still high.

Note that the opaque parts 141 b to 149 b of the lower piece group 104 are colored in black. However, various colors such as white and red are also selectable. The second opaque parts 151 b to 159 b of the upper piece group 105 are colored in white. However, the color needs only be different from that of the surfaces of the opaque parts 141 b to 149 b. At this time, however, the color of the entire surface of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 needs to coincide with that of the second opaque parts 151 b to 159 b.

The lower piece group 104 has the transparent parts 141 a to 149 a. The transparent parts 141 a to 149 a may be colored different from the opaque parts 141 b to 149 b. At this time, however, the color of the second opaque parts 151 b to 159 b of the upper piece group 105 needs to coincide with that of the opaque parts 141 b to 149 b of the lower piece group 104.

In the above-described first and second embodiments, the lower pieces 41 to 49 and 141 to 149 and the upper pieces 51 to 59 and 151 to 159 have a square outer shape. The lower pieces and upper pieces may have the same rectangular outer shape. The outer shape of each piece need not always be rectangular, and can also be triangular.

In the above-described first and second embodiments, an example of a two-layer structure that overlays two layers of a plurality of pieces has been described. The present invention is also applicable to a puzzle having a multi-layer structure with three or more layers. In this case, a plurality of pieces are divisionally arranged in a plurality of layers. Pieces assigned to each of the plurality of layers are selectively arranged at locations on the plane of the layer. Note that the plurality of pieces are divisionally stored in the plurality of layers of the storage box 2.

Each of the plurality of pieces includes an opaque part and a transparent part. If partial patterns are formed on the pieces of the lowermost layer, as in the second embodiment, the pieces of the lowermost layer need not always have the transparent parts. That is, at least one of the plurality of pieces need only have the transparent part.

The opaque parts of pieces assigned to a given layer are formed to cover, of partial patterns and dummy patterns on the other side (lower side) of the layer, the dummy patterns. The partial patterns seen from the upper surface side through the transparent parts of the pieces are combined to form one pattern. The “partial patterns and dummy patterns on the other side (lower side) of the layer” correspond to the partial patterns and dummy patterns of the base of the bottom portion 2 b of the storage box 2 in the first embodiment or the partial patterns and dummy patterns formed on the opaque parts 141 b to 149 b of the lower pieces 141 to 149 in the second embodiment.

Third Embodiment

As the third embodiment of the present invention, another playing method using the puzzle of the first or second embodiment will be described next with reference to FIG. 12. In the puzzle 1 of the above-described first embodiment, one pattern 7 is completed, and in this state, an arbitrary piece 59 of the upper pieces 51 to 59 is removed from the storage box 2, as shown in FIG. 12. When the piece 59 is removed, a free space corresponding to one piece is provided above the piece 49. Providing the free space allows to move the piece 56 adjacent to the free space to the near side or move the piece 58 to the right so that the remaining upper pieces 51 to 58 are sequentially moved in the vertical or horizontal directions using the free space.

The movement is repeated to arrange the upper pieces 51 to 58 as shown in FIG. 12, thereby expressing and completing one pattern 7 again. In this case, it is unnecessary to select the positions of the lower pieces 41 to 49 or select the vertical and horizontal directions of the upper pieces 51 to 58. For this reason, the difficulty level of the game lowers relative to the above-described first and second embodiments. That is, the difficulty level of the game can be selected using the same puzzle.

Note that in the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 12, the piece 59 is removed from the storage box 2. However, the piece to be removed can be any one of the remaining pieces 51 to 58. The description has been made using the puzzle 1 of the first embodiment. However, even in the puzzle of the second embodiment, the same playing method is also possible by removing one of the upper pieces 151 to 159 from the storage box 2, as a matter of course.

As described above, in the above first embodiment, whether the pieces 41 to 49 or 51 to 59 form the upper piece group 5 or lower piece group 4 is not determined in advance. Not only the positions of the pieces 51 to 59 of the upper piece group 5 but also the positions of the pieces 41 to 49 of the lower piece group 4 are not determined. The vertical and horizontal directions of the pieces 41 to 49 and 51 to 59 are not determined either. For these reasons, the difficulty level of the game of the puzzle 1 of the first embodiment is high.

In the second embodiment, not only the positions of the pieces 151 to 159 of the upper piece group 105 but also the positions of the pieces 141 to 149 of the lower piece group 104 are not determined. The vertical and horizontal directions of the pieces 141 to 149 and 151 to 159 are not determined either. For these reasons, the difficulty level of the game of the puzzle 101 of the second embodiment is high.

According to the third embodiment, it is possible to select any one of the high to low difficulty levels of the game using the same puzzle. 

1. A puzzle including a plurality of pieces having the same outer shape, wherein the plurality of pieces are divisionally arranged in a plurality of layers, and the pieces assigned to each of the plurality of layers are selectively arranged at locations on a plane of the layer, each of the plurality of pieces includes an opaque part, and at least one of the plurality of pieces further includes a transparent part, and the opaque parts of pieces assigned to a given layer are formed to cover, of true patterns and dummy patterns on a lower side of the layer, the dummy patterns, and the true patterns seen through the transparent parts of the pieces are combined to form one pattern.
 2. A puzzle according to claim 1, further comprising a base member having a base of the one pattern formed on an entire surface, the base including the true pattern and the dummy pattern, wherein pieces of a lowermost layer are arranged on the base member.
 3. A puzzle according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of layers include an upper layer and a lower layer, the opaque parts of the pieces assigned to the lower layer are formed to cover portions other than the true patterns and the dummy patterns, and the opaque parts of the pieces assigned to the upper layer are formed to cover at least the dummy patterns.
 4. A puzzle according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of layers include an upper layer and a lower layer, the opaque parts of the pieces assigned to the lower layer form true patterns and dummy patterns, and the opaque parts of the pieces assigned to the upper layer are formed to cover at least the dummy patterns.
 5. A puzzle according to claim 1, wherein the pieces are made of a transparent material, and the opaque parts are formed by coloring the transparent material.
 6. A puzzle according to claim 1, further comprising a storage box which divisionally stores the plurality of pieces in the plurality of layers, wherein each of the plurality of pieces has a rectangular outer shape.
 7. A playing method using the puzzle of claim 6, comprising the steps of: in a state in which the plurality of pieces are divisionally arranged at predetermined positions in the plurality of layers in the storage box, removing one piece of the pieces arranged on an uppermost layer; and moving the remaining pieces arranged on the uppermost layer in vertical and horizontal directions using a free space corresponding to the removed piece, thereby completing the pattern. 